Blog #3 Far from the Battlefield

"Iago, as Harold Goddard finely remarked, is always at war; he is a moral pyromaniac setting fire to all of reality.......In Iago, what was the religion of war, when he worshiped Othello as its god, has now become the game of war, to be played everywhere except upon the battlefield."
--Harold Bloom


Harold Bloom and Harold Goddard are right, Iago is a moral pyromaniac and he does play a game of war anywhere but the battlefield. To prove this right one needs only to read the play Othello. Personally, I believe that we, as the readers, come into the play after the shift from war as a religion to war as a game. I believe this, because, while Iago has obviously been a part of Othello's life for a time, he has come to hate Othello because he was passed over for a promotion. As for being a moral pyromaniac, he does seem to ignite most everyone's passions by lying about various actions, and being not too moral himself. However, he does this through tricks and other people, which could symbolically represent the battlefield. All that he does to hurt Othello, Cassio, and others is usually done sneakily or not directly, on the battlefield.

Blog Post #1- Questionable Quotations

"Music says what cannot be expressed,
Soothes the mind and gives it rest.
Heals the heart and makes it whole,
Flows from heaven to the soul."- anonymous

"I am goin', I am goin',
any which way the wind may be blowin',
I am goin', I am goin',
Where streams of whiskey are flowin'"- The Pogues, Streams of Whiskey

"When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden."- Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

"Time is an ocean, but it isn't a shore,
You may not see me here tomorrow."- Bob Dylan, Oh Sister

"They are not long, the days of wine an droses;
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes
Within a dream."- Ernest Dowson, Vitae Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetat Incohare Longam

"Grief is the price we pay for love."- Queen Elizabeth II

"I despise a world which does not feel that music is a higher revelation then all wisdom and philosophy."- Ludwig Van Beethoven

Blog Post #2-Having Been Exiled From Thebes..

Now that I have finished reading Oedipus Rex, the question has been posed as to what I have walked away from it with. Well, I like to think that I have "walked away" with a better understanding of the human psyche and some of its more primal instincts. I also feel that question of free will verses fate is one that must be answered independently. While Oedipus did everything he could to prevent the fates from having any power over him, in the end what he thought was free will was just fate. I feel that, perhaps, our ignorance to our fate is what gives us our free will.